How many folds are in a folded katana?
It varies, dependant on the number of steel plates forge welded together to form the billet from which the blade is forged and the type(s) of steel used. The number of plates will determine the number of “layers” in the billet, and when this billet is folded over on itself this number will double. Repeating the process will double the number of layers again, and so on. The process is further repeated until the layer pattern is close enough to provide maximum blade performance but still be discernable (further folding would render the pattern very difficult to see without improving the performance).
